A province can adequately fund or not fund their municipalities and that is 100% allowable.

Are there consequences to playing games with cities? Absolutely.

Edmonton & Calgary account for over 70% of the economic activity in Alberta.

Don’t maintain and the car will stall. No municipality in Canada can survive without provincial supports. It’s designed that way.

Property tax, fines, and fees will never cover the bills.

That’s why provincial and federal govts don’t charge based on property but on income.

And that income tax increases every year.

Alberta watersheds are not doing well. This is an issue I hope the provincial and federal governments take seriously sooner than later.

Lots of contributing factors but the main ones are rapid glacier loss, drier seasons, and of course, human activity (consumption/pollution). One of the reasons I began championing the concept of a National Urban Park in my first term was due to this concern.

ANY protection we could get for our waterways would be vital going forward & especially for future generations.

Sadly it became a disingenuous political wedge.

Ok, I wasn’t planning on doing any emotional labour today, & talking about the issues around the policies that attempted to literally destroy my family are labour.

But if any day is a teachable moment this is it.

Ready for the horror show?

This is a🧵

#Reconciliation #cdnpoli I will be drawing from “21 Things You Didn’t Know About The Indian Act” - a book so good we published Indigenous authors are all jealous we didn’t write it first, ha.

So here we go, The Greatest Hits of Indigenous Genocide in Canada (or why things are the way they are today).

I see some concern about the cost of $170m for implementing bike lane infrastructure. Additionally, I see “what about the homeless?” I’ll get to that as well.

🧵 that I will add to over time:

First, a little perspective:

The 50st overpass is $179 million dollars.

#yegcc Yes. One small section to help alleviate driver frustration & increase safety costs more than the entire bike lane build out.

No one asked about the homeless when that was approved. Why?

Maybe because homelessness, addictions, and mental health supports are provincial files.

To put this in perspective, this is the price tag for about 2 overpasses - and media doesn’t report on it because it’s a part of transportation infrastructure. We’re allocating a small percentage of infra budget to increasing safe mobility & attracting business investment. #yegcc

https://twitter.com/ctvedmonton/status/1574906516624351233

The Clareview Rec Centre was ~$125m & built around the same time as Meadows at near the same cost. That’s $250m.

Yellowhead freeway expansion is about a half billion dollars.

The price tag here is to safely separate car traffic from users of bike, scooter, mobility aids, etc.

As a municipal politician who grew up in poverty I know elitism & blind ideology when I see it.

On #yegcc I have the luxury of examining & responding from all sides of an issue. No party whip.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve 🤦🏻‍♂️ over #ableg approaches to municipalities.

/1 Conventional wisdom says that I shouldn’t be speaking openly, that it invites retaliation from the province or from their staff and faithful.

Let that sink in.

We serve the same people. You.

We should be building healthy relationships, not fear based relationships.

/2

The death toll in this province due to #COVID19 is a breathtaking tragedy.

And the numbers increase.

Should’ve aimed for #COVIDzero long ago. It would’ve cost less in lives & money.

Our healthcare folks & frontline workers are doing superhuman work.

My heart aches for our ppl

https://twitter.com/gosiagasperophd/status/1339700089778884608

We want to flatten the curve horizontally, not vertically #ableg

#COVID19AB #yeg #yegcc

Our neighbourhoods, schools, businesses, and hospitals would like to see a sensible end to this exponentially more dire situation. Again, for those in the back:

This has to do with ensuring ICU capability, avoiding burnout in our health care professionals, avoiding a lockdown, & valuing the lives of our ppl.

Everything else, while worth consideration, is distraction or irrelevant in the overall picture.

1. Hey, Aaron! Why do you care about transit so much?

I’m glad you asked!

What I REALLY care about is what transit does & wow! does it do a lot.

Hop on board - let’s tour few of the amazing things we get from a great transit network & why it matters.

#yeg #yegcc #transit 2. Transit is an economic driver. The 2009 Ottawa transit strike had a negative economic impact of about $400 million over 51 days - that’s est. $2.5 billion a year!

In 2019 #yeg that number will be even higher.

Let that sink in a little.

#economy #yegcc

1. I was not expecting this to be so widely shared & requested.

Folks wanted this in a non-fb format - a Treaty Acknowledgement I gave this week in Urban Planning Committee.

It is very brief and therefore imperfect but maybe it helps.

#yeg #yegcc #abpoli #canpoli #treaty6 #TRC 2.

#yeg #yegcc #abpoli #canpoli #treaty6 #TRC

1. “I’m not racist but...”

We’ve all heard the phrase, we all know what it REALLY means, and in light of recent events at 2 #yeg mosques I’ve been asked to make a statement as an elected official.

It may different than what you expect.

#yegcc
@AMPAC 2. First, do I condemn this hate and all Islamaphobia? Yes. Of course. As should we all. But that doesn’t solve the problem, does it?

All it does is shout at the symptoms. That’s not how we heal wounds. Just shouting at hate won’t heal racism.